Dr. Nii Nortey Hanson Nortey (left) handing over the items to Dr. Patrick Kumah Aboagye
Aurum Institute Ghana, a leading healthcare organisation focused on battling the global scourge of tuberculosis (TB), has donated sputum containers and educational materials to the Ghana Health Service (GHS).
The items are aimed at aiding GHS activities, including testing of samples for coronavirus (COVID-19) and public education on how the infection could be prevented.
The institute also presented anti-stigmatisation materials to sensitise the public to discrimination against COVID-19 patients, an act the institute believes can impede Ghana’s fight against the pandemic.
Making the donation, Country Director of Aurum Institute, Dr. Nii Nortey Hanson Nortey, lauded the GHS for the efforts made so far in the fight to contain the virus.
He, however, appealed for sustained education ? especially among persons living with TB and HIV ? since the infection has dire consequences for such groups.
The Director General of the GHS, Dr. Patrick Kuma Aboagye, who received the donation, said the GHS is committed to tackling other diseases in the country as it battles COVID-19.
“One area of concern to us now is to ensure that our continuity plans for other disease remain intact, so COVID-19 doesn’t take us away from what we are doing and create other health problems,” he said.
Dr. Aboagye, who identified linkages between TB and COVID-19, stressed the need for the public to stop stigmatising persons suspected of the disease so as to encourage effective isolation and treatment.
“Stigma is the major barrier we have to deal with in this fight. Our fear is that if it drives people on the ground, efforts to isolate them becomes difficult and gets the virus back into the society,” he stated.
Dr. Aboagye assured that the items donated would be used for its intended purpose to support efforts in containing the spread of the disease.
Ghana has recorded 5,127 cases of COVID-19 with 18 deaths and 494 recoveries as at May 12.
By Jamila Akweley Okertchiri